When All Is Said And Done
by Cinnamon-apple Tea
Summary: The long war has ended in victory. But as he stood before the gravestone, he felt the pain of being once again... alone.


**Title : When All Is Said And Done**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Vampire Knight and the following was written purely for enjoyment. No profit is being made.

**A/N:** Vampire Knight is supposed to be a tragedy. Keeping this in mind, no matter how I look at it I just can't see a happy ending for the dear main characters. There is so much yet to be solved in the story to come so no doubt things will change but for now this is one of the few endings I can imagine. Believe me, I really want a happy ending... my measly imagination just can't manage it. So the setting for this story is after an epic battle to come. My version of the ending of VK.

**Warning:** Spoilers for recent chapters of the manga! Mention of character death. Unbetaed.

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He stood in the falling snow, unheeding of the biting wind. A soft blanket of that same snow covered the elegant gravestone which he remained staring at for the longest while. Etchings of roses and vines adorned the smooth gray surface. It seemed such a human thing to do, creating this stone, and considering the names engraved on it that thought was rather ironic. But Kaname knew it was also fitting.

_Kuran Yuuki_

_Kiriyu Zero_

Two vampires. No body lay beneath the ground but instead, there rested two weapons. Artemis and Bloody Rose. It had started here at Cross Academy. The weapons were wielded side by side to protect the school and its beliefs. And now they were together in such a manner again. Only... they would never again be wielded. The pureblood felt fingers of envy threading through his pain as his eyes lingered on the hunter's name. The hunter lay at rest, he had been with the one he loved before his death, and perhaps in a sense he was with her still. The pureblood had none of these. For years he had not considered the boy with little more than detached pity. Yet Kaname had found himself engraving Kiriyu's name beneath Yuuki's. Though it was not something he wanted, he knew and admitted that the other deserved that much. Always the exhuman and his sister had been together when it truly mattered. All those years living together and depending on each other, Yuuki offering the hunter her blood, the fight against Rido and at the end...

The end... That last fight had been brutal but Kaname had arrived at the battlefield a little too late. The battle had been won and with it the victory of their side had been secured. But the price had been high. Too high. Both Kiriyu and Yuuki had won them the war and they had paid for it with their lives. By the time he was there all he could do was helplessly watch as their bodies disintegrated, the wind mingling their dust even as it carried them away.

Later the pureblood had heard about how the two had taken down every last leader of their enemies with strength and determination that surprised all. He had also heard how Artemis and Bloody Rose were raised side by side as the young pureblood princess and exhuman hunter fought together like they had as the guardians of Cross Academy. And how Kiriyu had taken a mortal blow shielding Yuuki. His sister had fallen soon after but not before taking the last of the enemies with her.

Kaname tried telling himself that at least she had not been alone in the end. It was cold comfort.

Right after her death he had contemplated ending it all for himself as well. It was so tempting to simply leave this life. Not even desperate bloodlust could be compared to the siren song of death. He had lived for too long and seen too much though this body he was in was still so young. And with Yuuki gone there was nothing but darkness in this world for him. But he could not. Everyone he ever cared for were gone, but he could not choose that same path.

Haruka, Juuri, Cross Kaien, _Yuuki_...

They all had so much to live for yet fate seemed fit to take them away too soon leaving just him behind. It had always been thus. He was a survivor, though he wished not to be. And if fate chose him to live and carry on the legacy and dreams of those who left... he would. The peaceful coexistence of vampires and humans was still not a given. The war had been won but things were yet unstable. He had much work to do for true lasting peace. It was what they would have wanted. It was what _she _would have wanted. In fact, she had been the very embodiment of that dream. She was Kuran Yuuki but she had never ceased to be Cross Yuuki. The peace and the dream, they would keep a part of her alive. Kaname had to believe that. It was the only way he could convince his heart to continue beating, his lungs to keep breathing.

Still every moment of life came with the ache in his heart that would not ease. And whenever he allowed himself to remember the ache would throb to become a stabbing pain. How had it come to this? He had thought everything was under control. Every piece laid out meticulously on the board, every move planned out to perfection. His only mistake had been his inability to consider Yuuki as a part of that 'chess game.' He never had and he had never thought that he would have to. After all, how could he think of her as nothing more than a chess piece? To him, his precious girl could never be so. Yet that was why he had never seen it coming. Her death...

Raising his wine colored gaze to the dark heavens, Kaname stared unseeing into the night. The white snow reminded him of their meeting long ago. It bitterly felt as if he had come a full circle. The snowflakes that landed on his long lashes and pale cheeks melted into crystal droplets, looking very much like tears. But while his eyes burned with grief no true tears fell. He was a pureblood, a Kuran, an ancestor of vampires. Even here he would show no weakness.

Time passed silently and the night was all but gone by the time a dark figure left the deserted grounds of what was once Cross Academy. Kuran Kaname would no longer smile nor love. But he would live, as he has always done. Even when he was utterly... alone.

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**A/N:** I've long been an avid reader here but never was I compelled to write something. But recently my errant muse bit, and bit hard. The result: an account on the website and the oneshot above. This was my first piece of fanfiction, so criticism, reviews and comments will be greatly appreciated!


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